Pankh jo phaelanae chahe, udaan he rok de gae…

Pankh jo phaelanae chahe, udaan he rok de gae,

Geet jo gana chaha, aawaaz he cheen le gae…

Pal bhar mae, jo kushiya thi, gum mae badal de gae,

Suraj bas abhi nikla he tha, phir ye andhare nae kaesse bazi maarde…

Massoom thae vo chaherae, mossomiyat sae bhari thi vo baate,

Doosti ke chadar ko oodhae jab dhaekhtae thae hum vo bade bade sapnae…

Ghar kae aangan sae lagta tha badi suhawani hai ye duniya…

Hassi ke kil kilahat ke pichae chupp gaye thi vo saare pareshaniya…

Jiwan ussii ko mannae lagethe jo tha asliyat sae kafi pare,

College kae lecturoo ko bunk karkae samajnae lage thae khud ko tees mar khan bade,

Engineering ke kitabae padhnae ka samay kaha tha sahab zyado ko,

Doosti aur pyaar-mahobat kae apnea kissae jo likhnae mae mushkool thae saare…

Paesso ke thee na koe chinta na thi aanae walle waqt ke parwa,

Jeetae thae hum bus ek pal mae aur ussi mae dhund laete saree kameeya..

Kitabo kee yaad to bas exam ke kuch din pahale he satati thi,

Baki kahani to bas Cold Coffe aur Movie Thetaro sae sajani thi…

Engineering to kar li, puri duniya jo kar rahe thi,

Mann to kabhi lagta nahi tha par mark-ae (marks) jo lanni thi…

Likhae aur Kalakari kee jo prathiba jannm lae rahe thi,

Mechanics kae hadsae nae salla bhujha de lawh jigyasa kee…

Udaan jo bhari thi hamnae umeedo sae bhari,

Socha, kam mae to jald he choo laeni hai vo bulandiya saari …

Himmat ko hum dund laete thae yaddo mae taere,

Doosto ke dosti mae chuppa laete thae duriyaa vo taerre,…

Par Udaan… hehe… Udaan thi vo kaese,

Jo maere alawa sab kuch he udaa lae gae…

Baethe rahe hum wahe aur saari duniya he ghum gae,

Niklae thae jo ghar sae Raja Harishchandra ke rah pae, apnae aap ko bhi ess sangarsh mae aaj bhulla baethhe…

Jinh paeso ke parwah na ke thi,

Jiss Kal kae baare mae kabhi na socha…

Aaj ussi kae samnae ghutae juka baethae,

Aaj ussi ko apni duniya banna baethae…

Aae-Baba kae paasoo ka jo kadar na tha, Unkae sangarshso ko aaj samajnae lage…

Par makan jo Sunhaera sajaya tha, Ussi ko gawa baethe…

Pankh jo phaelayae thae humane umeedo sae bhare,

Appnae he siddhantto kae bhar kae nichae dhae gaye sarreee…

Pankh jo phaelanae chahe, udaan he rok de gae,

Geet jo gana chaha, aawaaz he cheen le gae…

Pal bhar mae, jo kushiya thi, gum mae badal de gae,

Suraj bas abhi nikla he tha, phir salla ye andhare nae kasse bazi maarde..................

Beyond College Gates

Raj Malhotra, the central character of my story, at first look seems to be a guy right from the genera of movies created by “Yash Raj”. But wait… guy not with the looks of a Hero form Yashji’s movies but a heart :). Whilst in College, he believed that the world is full of people who are sweet, simple and humble (humble – ya right, hehe!!!). LoVe “WAS” the Alpha Human emotion according to him. He has his own small pocket dictionary of “The Rights and The Wrongs”. His roots are very modest yet, he never considered Money as supreme. These Modest roots had imbibed a “Little is More” feeling in Raj’s character. Raj Loved spending time in his closely nit Birds-Nest. Simply put, he lacked the qualities of making of a “Big Shot” or a “Genius” or even a “Mr. Popular”. Raj is plain sincere who always wanted the coziness of his loved ones around. He hated the idea of running behind money 24x7. His Family Tree Bonding was not that great. Raj never got to gel much with his cousins and relatives. Uncle, Aunty (Raj’s parents) had their own Life-Book and they made sure that Raj was kept away from the darker chapters. BUT Raj’s mom could never bare the painful events which eventually took serious toll on her emotional health. This was the biggest shaping force in Raj’s conservative, humble and introvert character. In spite of this, Raj loved being around people. He loved everything that had human interaction minus the feelings synonymous to competition and jealousy. BUT he always remained a rabbit, kept hopping from one group of people to the other. May be he dint want to get too close to all but the special one. Or, possible he does not want anyone to discover him completely. A Mysterious Guy :) … wooooowww!!! BUT one who hid his fears and weaknesses as a mystery. Raj was never the intelligent kinds. He could be easily overshadowed on intellectual topics… Though he was doing an Engineering course he had no IdEa about even the word EnGiNeErInG… hehe… He never wanted to become an engineer in the first place BUT the problem was, he knew what he DIN’T want to do and was never sure about what he would love to do :(. During the pre-grad schooling days, he suddenly discovered his talent at fashion designing and sketching. Wait!!! here again is the famous BUT - he never did much about this newly found skill to make it into a career. As quickly as he had discovered this talent, he forgot it too… In his Grad School, he found his special one - sweet, cute and adorable “BIRDY”. Hehe…This fellow had already planned his future with this BiRdY without knowing what awaits him beyond the CoLlEgE gAtEs. She was his first love (at 20 yrs of age ;) ). Unfortunately, his thinking was very far from reality until the college got over.

His first job took him away from everyone. Away from his parents, his BiRdY(she eventually developed strong wings :) ) and all the coziness he ever wanted. He opted for it though. Raj wanted to know how it feels to live alone. He wanted to feel the joy of making his own decisions. He wanted to experience freedom that he never got to feel while staying with his parents. Not that his parents stopped him from exploring himself. He had built a virtual wall of fear and anonymity around him. He was afraid that his choices would hurt his parents. Probably he was unsure about his own choices. This was his only chance to do what he wanted to do; to make his own decisions and learn from his mistakes without hurting anyone. It was this choice that jolted him to reality.

The 7 months probation in his first Corporate Organization was fab. But it did not take him much time to realize that it was just another illusion. This was his first lesson in the marketing term – USP/UVP (Unique Selling/Value Proposition). With the sunset of training period began a roller coaster; a roller coater that shattered his dreams but did teach him a few more corporate gimmicks. This Ride got him face to face with Corporate Beats like “Jo Pakda Gaya Vo He Choor”, Resource Utilization, Revenue Churn and Business Continuity, Quick Sand Projects, Chaotic Project Management, HR Lollypops, the famous Skill Management and Risk Mitigation Plan Mockery, and the Buttering Effect (which he still has not learnt) ;) etc. In his first project itself Raj confronted the characters his elders had warned him about. These dreaded characters were Mr. Politician, Mr. Seat Warmer, Mr. It’s All About Me, Miss Havoc, Miss I Am The Best, Mr. I am The Boss, Mr. What Can I Do and so on… Hehe, Raj was almost on the verge of quitting and going back home without even having found another job. BUT (again the favorite word in Raj’s Life hehe), for reasons related to lost confidence, darker chapter from his parents’ book and a little bit of give-up cum easy-going attitude, Raj is still sticking around this bitter reality…:)

Raj - a boy who got transformed into a Man. A Man who now believes in love BUT ( :) ) understands that just love won’t suffice. Raj baeta finally grew up…. Unfortunately, he is amongst those who need a big jhatka to wake up from their dreams. This is a story about a kid’s first step into the corporate jungle. A transition that takes him Beyond College Gates and opens a complete new play ground for Raj to play in. Raj in this new playground is just like a child at his first day in school… Lot to learn and explore and unlearn his love for coziness and many more things … All of which would happen only once Raj shrugs off his hesitation… Beyond College Gates, that’s when Raj meets Reality and falls into a whirlpool of conundrums forcing him to change his thinking ways if he wishes to stay afloat unless he finds a Rocket to fly him off this stink hole :) :) :)